Miami Heat: 0-6 Preseason leaves more questions than answers | Five on the Floor

Miami Heat: 0-6 Preseason leaves more questions than answers | Five on the Floor

Uh-oh. Yeah, it’s mercy. Music by mercy again. Peak nation we the coach I need you to call time out radio blanket open for the shot still five on the floor still ride for my dog on the court still survive in the wall keep your eye on the ball or get burned from the heat mic off the wall without turning a cheek from night to day no sleeping powders the nut is sleeping us never catch us alive from Miami we pour in the heat with five reason sports from for the shoot. Action count. Be patient. Stay proud. Welcome to Five on the Floor, a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sander, Alex Toledo, Brady Hawk, and others from the Five Reason Sports Network. Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. Welcome back to Off the Flo or Five on the Floor. I’m your host, Greg Sander. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. We come to you directly after the post uh game loss that the Miami Heat uh had to the Memphis Grizzlies 141 to 125. Tonight’s floor plan with me, Digital Adele. Uh we are going to recap the Heat’s last preseason game, the dress rehearsal game really. Uh where we we think we saw most of the guys that we think will be part of the regular rotation. We’re going to get into what we saw tonight. Uh it’s unfortunate that the Heat couldn’t get a win throughout this entire preseason. that feels especially compounded by the fact that uh they didn’t get a win in the playoffs last year. So, they’ve lost a lot of games in a row. But before we dive into all that, I want to reiterate to everybody as this Heat season kicks off and as you’re getting plugged in to the Heat team and kind of getting back in the groove as the season starts, you got to get on Off the Floor. The link is in the description of this episode. It’s $2.99 a month. You can bypass the Apple Upcharge by using the link in the description of this episode. It’s the most heat anywhere. We’re going to be talking heat 247 here. We’re going to do stage shows, Q&As’s. Uh we ingame chat, all kinds of stuff. So, you want to get subscribed here before the season starts around the trade deadline. We’ll have you plugged in there. So, this is your place to go. The other thing I’m always shouting out is using the code five on prize picks. It’s daily fantasy simplified. You can use it in the state of Florida. Uh but it’s also legal in a bunch of other places. You can do flex plays, power plays. This is where you choose more or less on statistics that make sense to you on the players that you uh are confident in or less confident in. And it’s really fun. So check out Prize Pix. Go to prizepix.com. take the code out of the uh prefilled area where they give you a code and put the code five and hook us up here at five on the floor. Those are the public service announcements. Adele, finally, let’s get to the proceedings. Um, I’m particularly worn out as we do this show because the Miami Hurricanes just dropped one to Louisville at home and basically I feel like that’s ruined their chances at uh this whole college playoff situation. And so it’s just another year of more of the same old Miami Hurricane disappointment. But I’m going to put that aside and we’re going to talk Miami Heat basketball. Um, what do you make? We’re gonna get to the game in a second, but I don’t want to make too much of the last preseason game of the year. What do you make of the three-point shooting, which was better tonight in that it was um 39% for the Heat, which in all the other games it’s been like really really bad. Adele, what do you make of the preeason? not just the all the losing, but I think that they didn’t really have a lot of stretches where they played particularly well. Um, what what are your takeaways from that? So, my biggest takeaway from the preseason is that Norman Pal is a very good player and the Clippers basically gave him to Miami for a bag of of chips. I mean, Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson, I mean, I appreciate Kevin’s career, but what he was at that stage and and Kyle Anderson, for you to get a guy back like Norm Pow, I mean, he’s an easy scorer. He gets to the rim very easy, scores well in the paint, can hit the three ball, everything is done in the flow of the offense, so there’s not a lot of dribbling going on, which is a big thing when you’re trying to play faster. and he just fits so easy and seamless with anybody that they put with him on the court. So I I really take away how well a Norm has played. You got to see some of Bam tonight being aggressive looking like his regular season self. So I’m looking forward to taking that into the regular season where over the last three games wear I thought he’s shown consistent effort motor been engaged and locked in and I’m looking for that trend to continue into the regular season. So, uh, what I make overall of the team, I still think it’s a flawed build. It’s going to be a struggle every night. One thing I’ve been saying for a while, and not a lot of people catch on to it, but when you try to play fast, you also then have to be locked in even more defensively. Your your focus has to be better. Your floor balance has to be better. Several times tonight, you saw a long three quick in the shot clock. the opposite guard didn’t rotate back and they gave up a gave up some layups and easy buckets in transition. So, I I think my overall synopsis is they’re going to try to play faster, but it could have some unintended consequences on the defensive end. I think that’s a great point. I remember a play and um I was listening on playback as I watched the Canes lose that game. Uh gosh, that’s crushing. But anyway, I was listening to y’all uh you know, chop it up on playback. join us there uh and and watch the games with us. I’ll be plugged in for the regular season for sure. But there was even a play where um it was either DaVon or Drew who took the shot. So, they weren’t supposed to get back. It was the other guard that really needed to get back and they didn’t do that and and it was for an easy transition dunk, I think. But a lot of a lot of those hit ahead passes happened tonight. Also to uh kind of emphasize when you talk about um the defensive side of the ball, the Memphis Grizzlies shot 20 of 39 from three. That’s 51%. They shot almost 53% from the field. That’s the kind of stuff that would lead the league if it happened throughout the entire season. So, the Heat, this team, because you’re mentioning playing fast, the unintended consequences. I know, and you haven’t talked about it on this episode, but I’ve listened to enough of what uh you and Ethan have discussed that the shooting is going to be a major issue. So, how else are you going to win? It’s going to have to be on the defensive end. You’re going to have to take care of the ball and you’re going to have to play really good defense. Tonight, the Heat didn’t do that. And so we have a lot of question marks I think heading into the regular season about uh not the individual players and we’re going to get into a little bit more of that um just kind of top level takeaways as we head into the regular season. But I think that the way that this this all is going to come together and coales and become something either you know playoff worthy or not that’s a huge question mark as we start the regular season. But, uh, let’s dive into our first segment and we’ll we’ll get into the good, the bad, and the ugly here. And now it’s time for the Aggressive Insurance player of the night, sponsored by our friend Lynette. You can find her at insurancebylanette.com. That’s with two N’s and two T’s. Insurancebylanette.com. If you need car insurance, renters’s insurance, homeowners insurance, or any other type of insurance, she’s the person to go to. based in Lauder Hill. She services the entire tri county area here in South Florida and she will make sure to get you the best deal. She probably talk to you about the heat while you’re at it. Reach out to her insuranceet.com. And now the player of the game. So, like I said, in the preseason, I mean, if we had to narrow it down to one player, Adele, uh, I don’t know, probably Norm or Bam would be my choice. But let let’s just talk about these three in general. Um, and I’m I’m interested for your perspective here because Kelw did have a good uh end of the preseason and was productive. statistically was their most productive player probably in the preseason if I’m just I haven’t looked at the stat sheet, but I’m just kind of thinking back to the box scores I I’ve you know glanced at. Do you think on opening night against Orlando that this is a situation where you’re going to see Bam, Nico, and Wiggins or do you think it’s going to be where Bam and Wiggins to start the season uh on opening night? So, to me, I think it’s still Nico Yoic’s job as long as he’s healthy. I still think he with their lack of ball handling and facilitating, I think he’s a guy that can really make that offense go, make the right pass, get the rebound and go, start the break, that sort of thing. So, I still see Nico as starting. I like what I saw from Kel Wear. I like the fact that he’s playing hard. He had 14 rebounds tonight. He had 20 points. He’s he was leading the league in in rebounding in the preseason. So these last three games he’s really stepped up in that regard. Um I like the fact that when he got on the low block it was one or two dribbles and a jump hook or someone set him up for a lob and a dunk. And if he does that, I don’t know if he realizes that or not, but if he gets to that low block, takes one or two dribbles and gets into a jump hook with either hand, he’s unstoppable doing that. He could score 20 plus points every night doing that. So, I would like to see him do that even more. But ultimately, I think Yovic gets that starting spot, but We coming off the bench can be a real force. Yeah. And that’s I’m glad you mentioned um that it’s Nico’s job to lose. He was injured tonight, so we’ll see how they suit up. I I tend to agree with you now. And I initially thought Spo was going to try to lean into the wear bam duo to start the season and then if that went sideways he’d he’d go to Nico. But Nico is further developed than maybe I thought he was going to come back and be this year. So uh Ethan who predicted it would be Bam and Nico I think is going to be right when we get to Wednesday uh up in Orlando which uh Ethan is planning to cover that game. So he’ll be on site there. But the other thing here that I think we should take away from just this last game is that I think some of the uh there was a little bit of panic about Bam’s game in the preseason so far. And I’m glad you mentioned he like we saw more of a regular season version of him because I I don’t think that this is something to worry about. I’m not saying he’s making some crazy leap where he’s going to average 25 a game, but I do think that there and Ethan and I debated this a bit. So, I’m interested in your perspective. I think Bam can get pretty damn close if not to 20 points a game this year just based off the fact that I think his efficiency could go down just a bit because they’re going to need to find offense and there’s going to be moments where there is no better solution than Bam, particularly when Tyler is out. Do you see Bam as a guy who could maybe get to that 20 point per game mark on this team or do you think that I’m being a little optimistic with that viewpoint of his averages? No, I think he could. I mean, as long as he’s getting to the foul line, like he went to the foul line five times today and that’s because he’s being aggressive. as long as you get the aggressive Bam because the only thing that’s holding Bam back from being that 20 plus points per game type of guy is his mentality. So, he has to be in attack mode game in and game out. If you can get that aggressive bam going to the rim, getting fouled, hitting some mid-range jumpers, maybe a three here or there, he can get to those 20 points per game. Now, is he going to be a 25 point per game guy? No, I don’t think so. um he would have to his that switch would have to fully flip around for something like that to happen. But as long as he’s getting to the free throw line and being aggressive, I think he’s going to be just fine. Uh the defensive stuff I never had a question about him playing hard. There should never be a question about. I just think people don’t quite understand how the preseason works sometimes. Yeah, that’s very true. And also there was um the Heat played a lot of preseason games. They ended the preseason 0 and6, but there were some teams that only played four preseason games. And I don’t know what’s up with that, like if you have an option to play more or less, or if that’s just dictated to the league, but or dictated to the teams by the league. Uh, but the the other takeaway here, and it’s less player specific, um, but I do want to get to some of the bench guys before we wrap. Um, is 141 points on your home floor. Listen, I don’t give a crap if it’s preseason, if it’s the charity scrimmage. 141 points is too many points to give up basketball. So, I I’m a little concerned and I hope that the defense finds its uh finds its groove early on. And that’s why I think that as much as and Ethan and I have debated this too, so I’m going to throw this one at you as well. He thinks Drew Smith may be the opening starter uh as a placeholder for Tyler so that DaVon can get acquainted with his bench role. I think that they need DaVon, even though Drew Smith is a solid defender, I think they need DaVon’s pitbull like point of attack stuff in the first unit. Do you agree, disagree? Where are you at with the Drew Smith Davon? It doesn’t matter. And I’ll tell you why. Because their point of attack defense is going to be bad no matter what. And you saw it tonight as well. Because say you went with the starting lineup of Tyler, Norm, Wiggins, right? That’s a bad point of attack lineup. Norm’s a okay defender. Wiggins hasn’t been a good or elite point of attack defender since years past in Golden State. He’s not a very good point of attack defender anymore. So no matter how you mix those point guards up, it’s not going to matter when your wings can’t really defend. And then don’t get me into the bench. Like Haimeh Hawkins Jr. was getting cooked on the perimeter by GI Jackson at the end of this game and Simone Fonteio gave up three layups in a row on the other end just getting blown by. He’s not a very good defender. So when your wings are compromised like that, it’s going to be very difficult for you to have point of attack defense at all. Yeah, that’s um among the issues. I mean, it it’s it’s kind of scary that you head into the regular season and some of the question marks are defense and scoring and shooting and passing. Those are like really big pillars of uh the game just generally. So, just as we speak philosophically, it it’s kind of um it’s ominous to have have those kinds of question marks heading into the year. Uh I wanted I do want to talk about the bench a little more specifically. Before we do that, uh and then uh we will uh finish this show. Uh let’s do our next segment. We’ll get to the mobile CR and staffing X-ray play of the day. And now it’s time for the X-ray of the play of the day. Brought to us by our friends over at Mobile Carm and Staffing Services. Nelson and his team will bring the X-ray equipment and the staffing to you. If you work in a hospital or a medical office, get a consultation today at c-armmanstaffing.com or give them a call at 561891-9620. Their fleet of trucks at your service. Again, it’s mobile searm and staffing services. 561891-9620. And now the X-ray of the play of the day. So this was with about 3 minutes to go in the third quarter. Uh and it was a great play. Uh Norman Pal made a move. uh got in the lane, threw a really crafty left-handed lob, and uh bam, finished over the top. It was really um my favorite play of the night. You called it out immediately as the play of the game. Other than that, it had been a Kelwar putback kind of uh tomahawk two-handed dunk. Uh and and you did, and you mentioned this multiple times on playback, so I think we should credit him. Kel Wear is doing a lot better job grabbing the ball with two hands and I know that that sounds like a super elementary thing to talk about, but those are the small details that are really important for him. And so, uh, shout out to him. He had some great plays, but the play of the night was definitely Norm Bam. Uh, did you know Norm had that kind of pass in his bag? Cuz I don’t know if I did. I didn’t know he had that kind of touch on his passes. And the one thing I really like about Norm that gets lost in that play is how well he comes off screens. And when he comes off, he’s downhill in an instant. And he’s so strong that when the defender is on his hip, it’s like he’s not even there. He like goes through him like he’s a running back. So like he came off that screen, was downhill quick, had it in his right hand, switched it to his left, and then just floated it up over the top to where Yeah. I didn’t know he had that kind of passing in his bag. Six assists. Uh, and only one turnover. Sorry to interrupt you. You literally took the words right out of my mouth. That’s funny. Uh, let let’s wrap this show just talking about the bench guys cuz I think we did get at least an idea of what I think the, you know, like nine or 10 that are going to be rolled out initially are. I I think we’ve settled on the starting lineup being some semblance of what we saw tonight. Um obviously Nico can be subbed in for wear provided he’s healthy on opening night. But then the other guys that are going to play, Drew Smith’s going to find his way into some minutes even though I really think um they’re going to lean into DaVon early in the season a lot. But then the other guys are going to be Haimey Hakez, uh, Pelle Larson, and Sim, uh, Simone Fonteio. Tonight, they each played um, 26, 20, and 17 minutes, respectively. Hakez, who’s had a really good preeason, I I I want to credit him for coming back and looking a lot better. Even tonight, uh, there were some moments where we all were like, here comes the spin, and he didn’t spin. So, uh, he was only one of eight. So, it it’s not indicative of uh a great offensive game, but he did have six assists and only one turnover. Uh Larson was relatively nondescript tonight. Fonteio looked better on offense, but I feel like his minutes are going to be um frustrating, Adele, because although there could be moments where you’re going to get little shots in the arm offensively, you’re probably going to give it up on the other end. How do you feel about the rotation? Do you think that this is probably around the eight or nine guys that we’re going to see? Terry got some minutes tonight. So, like, do we need to consider the idea of Terry Roier in the regular season? Uh, what are your thoughts on kind of the bench and how that’s going to stack up as the season starts? I think because there’s not a lot of ball handling and facilitation on this roster, you could start seeing some sprinkles of Terry every now and again at the back end of that rotation. So, it is definitely possible. Uh, Haimeh Hawkins Jr., he was on ball a lot. I think they were trying to get a good look at him to see if he could facilitate a little bit with that added responsibility. And I think that’s why you saw he only shot 12.5% from the field tonight, but he did facilitate well. He had six assists. So, I I do like that. But I think you hit the nail on the head of what the rotation is going to be. I just put that little caveat out there because Terry makes a lot of money and he’s a veteran. Spo tends to like to play veterans and say and give him a second chance, so to speak. So, I could see it happen at the bottom of that rotation. Yeah. I mean, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world that the Heat got a good month out of Terry so that he could at least look like a uh an expiring that is useful for some somebody in some way, shape, or form. But I think everyone is hoping for kind of other guys to rise and obviously we haven’t had the chance to really see the regulars with uh Casper Yakonis and he again missed tonight. I think he’s going to probably start the regular season um inactive because of injury. I I saw the last listing was a groin and that’s always scary. I I think they should take their time with that. But because you mentioned facilitation and uh just being creative with the basketball, I do think that this year there is a chance that Yakonis is going to get the like a real opportunity to drive at least um portions of the game and try to change the pace and be a different look. Uh we haven’t got to see a ton of it in the preseason. I understand that. But do you think that there is um just because of the def the specific needs of this team? Is there any world where Casper Yakonis is in the rotation in the back half of this season? Yeah, I think there’s a world for that and the main reason is he can defend and he’s willing to defend and he plays extremely hard. Spo will play guys like that. So, the offensive stuff is is good, but to get on the floor and stay on the floor, he’s got to be able to defend. He’s got to be able to do the little things, not turn the ball over. So, yeah, I do see a world for that because he does have a unique passing ability. He’s 66 and he’s 200 plus pounds. He’s a big guard. He’s not a little guy. And I think his shot is better than people are are giving him credit for. So, I also think he can shoot it. So, as long as he’s healthy, as long as he gets an opportunity to prove every day in practice that he’s not gonna turn the ball over, I think Spo will give him a chance at some point this season. Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. Um, I hope that it’s sooner rather than later, just like Tyler’s been kind of uh he keeps plugging. I’ll be back sooner rather than later. Yakonis, I hope he’s healthy as well really soon. Uh, that wraps the preseason 0 and6. Uh, that is rough. Uh, but there are there is precedent and um, thank you to Brian Fana. Shout out to him for doing some research on this, but there’s been a few teams that have ended up really good in the regular season that didn’t win a damn thing in the preseason. Not saying that’s going to be the Heat, but I just don’t want fans to be um, overly uh, sensitive to the record, although 0 and6 does hurt when you lost the last four. So, you’re kind of like we’re on a 10ame streak here. Let’s hope it ends Wednesday at Orlando. We’ll have you covered there. Adele, thank you for your time. You’re going to see a lot of digital Adele, Major Passins, and a bunch of others from Five Reason Sports, but especially those two along with myself on home game uh postgame shows this year. So, uh we look forward to bringing those to you. Uh but the Heat lose this one to the Grizzlies and the preseason 0 and6. But better days are ahead and we’ll see them in Orlando. Peace.

The Miami Heat finished the preseason 0-6, punctuated by a 141-125 home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night at the Kasaya Center. Greg Sylvander & Digital Adel recap the game, discuss final takeaways from the preseason and predict the rotation on Opening Night.

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